Persian Love Cake
˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ A sweet treat that comes with a touch of romance ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗
Inspired by a love story in Iran; A young Persian woman falls
in love with a prince,
she bakes a cake infused with aromatic spices and rose water to make him
fall in love with her.
🩷
˗ˏˋ Ingredients ˎˊ˗
For the Cake 🍰
200 grams unsalted butter — 150 grams caster sugar — 4 medium eggs — 12 cardamom pods — 100 grams plain flour — 275 grams ground almonds — 1 tablespoon rose water — Juice of 1 lemon — 1 teaspoon baking powder — A gennerous pinch of fine sea salt
For the Drizzle Topping 🍋
2 tablespoons caster sugar — Juice of 1 lemon — ½ tablespoon rose water
To Decorate 🌸
Chopped pistachios — Dried rose petals
˗ˏˋ Instructions ˎˊ˗
1. Pre-heat the oven to 160°C.
Grease a 22cm cake tin and line it with baking parchment.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the butter and sugar together until creamy.
When the mixture is thoroughly combined, beat in the eggs.
3. Crush the cardamom pods to get the seeds out of the pods. Discard the pods
and grind the seeds to a fine powder.
Add them to the cake mixture, along with the flour,
ground almonds, lemon juice, rose water, baking powder and salt.
Mix well.
4. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the oven
for 45 minutes. To check if it is ready,
stick a fork in the middle of the cake — it should come out dry.
5. Towards the end of the cooking time, make your drizzle topping. Place the caster sugar,
lemon juice and rose water in a small pan over a low heat and heat until the sugar melts.
6. Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a wire rack. Poke holes all over
the top of the
warm cake and drizzle over the syrup.
7. When the cake is completely cool, make the icing by
combining the icing sugar, lemon juice and a few
teaspoons of
water until you have a smooth, thick icing. Spoon the icing over
the cake and finish with a sprinkling of sliced pistachios and rose petals.
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Nooshe Jan [noosh-eh jaan] (may your soul be nourished)
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